


Clearly

by Silverkleptofox



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Blood, Flashbacks, Gen, Injury, PTSD, Whump, Whumpaween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 17:57:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8456257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverkleptofox/pseuds/Silverkleptofox
Summary: Whumpaween 2016!
Blind and injured, Pidge has to fight her way out of captivity, but when Shiro comes to rescue her, he ends up needing rescuing himself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for Whumpaween 2016! Wolfie-dragon-rider requested Shiro and Pidge with PTSD, and the keyword was 'glasses'. So here it is!

Whumpaweeen

"Quiznak!" Pidge winced as she grasped at her side. Standing up had _not_ been a good idea. The laser blast had instantly cauterized her side when it hit, but apparently it broke open. She pressed at the wound, hard, hoping to stem the bleeding. Of _course_ their paladin armour didn't protect their midriffs, who would have _ever_ thought of that? She took a slow breath through her clenched teeth. Getting frustrated wouldn't get her out of this mess. She had to _think._

They had landed on this planet after finding a recent distress call, but it had been a trap. The paladins were lured into a false diplomatic meeting where the Galra had been waiting. They had been captured and separated, but Pidge fought back. She had killed two Galra with her bayard, but not before taking a shot to the abdomen- and having her glasses broken. They currently sat tucked into the collar of her breastplate. 

Pidge steeled herself against the wall where she had momentarily collapsed, catching her breath. She peered around the corner of the corridors with blurry eyes, trying to determine whether the form down the hallway was friend or foe. The figure limped closer.

Not for the first time that night, Pidge wished her comlink hadn't been damaged in the fight. She couldn't see, and she couldn't call for backup. 

The figure limped closer- Pidge could just make out more details: dark hair, armor, and something glow king purple. Was it another Galra soldier? She raised her bayard to a guard position and activated the glowing green blades. 

"Pidge!" The figure croaked out. That was Shiro's voice. She lowered her weapons but kept a firm grip just in case it was another Galra trick. 

"Shiro?" She whispered inquisitively. The blurry form visibly relaxed against the wall.

"Thank goodness." He said. "We couldn't contact you on the comms, we thought the worst." Shiro- she could make out his face this close, the white shock of hair, the scar across his nose, the eyelashes she was secretly jealous of- it was definitely him. 

"My helmet was damaged in a firefight." Pidge explained plainly, gesturing to the mangled bit of space-plastic clipped to her hip. "My glasses, too. I can't see where I'm going."

"Are you hurt?" Shiro asked with concern, peering over the younger paladin's form.

Pidge nodded once. "My side- it's already cauterized, it just hurts. What about you? I saw you limping."

"Sprained ankle."

"Where are the others?" She asked. 

Shiro shook his head. "Lance and Hunk already got out, and Keith didn't even make it into a cell. He was the one to let Allura know what was going on. The other guys blasted the walls of their cells with their bayards- the local soldiers didn't realize we could materialize them, or forgot on purpose." He smirked. "I hacked my cell with my arm, but I twisted my ankle while running. That's when Coran sent out the all-call for your location." 

Ah, that made sense. This was an out-of-the-way planet whose population had been under Galra oppression for centuries. Sabotaging their orders to capture the paladins would be an easy way to hurt the Galra without directly rebelling. But all of that was irrelevant; for the current moment, they needed to escape. 

Pidge took note of their combined injuries and began running calculations in her head. Lifting her left arm would stretch the wound in her side, but luckily Shiro's bad ankle was also his left. 

"If you stand on my right, I can support your left ankle, and you can keep pressure on my side as well as tell me where to go." She said finally. 

"That's... that's a pretty great idea, Pidge." She could hear the smile in his voice more than see it, but it was a comfort nonetheless. The two paladins awkwardly jockeyed into position, with Pidge under Shiro's left armpit supporting part of his weight, and Shiro's human hand keeping light but firm pressure on the laser-wound cutting into Pidge's abdomen. It wasn't exactly _comfortable,_ but it was efficient. 

Shiro pressed the comm button on his own helmet. "Coran, I've found Pidge. We're in the north sector of the building. We both need medical assistance but we should be able to get out." He listened for a moment, and then replied "Thanks, we'll see you there." 

Shiro gave a gentle tug down the hallway and they began the slow, painful process of making their way out of the Galra base. 

"We have to get to the eastern courtyard, and Allura can get us into the escape pod." Shiro said quietly into Pidge's ear. She nodded grimly. 

Within minutes, they were facing a roving patrol of Galra. Two robotic soldiers and one Galra came upon them from behind, firing laser blasts and calling for backup. Shiro instinctively pulled Pidge to the floor to avoid the laser fire, but the two soldiers were just out of reach. Their long-range weapons gave them an advantage over the two paladins, one with only a mechanical arm and the other with a space-garrote.

The adrenaline of battle kicked in and the two paladins rushed forward, ignoring their injuries for the moment. Shiro sprang forward, his arm alight, as Pidge rushed to the side. She darted around the two soldiers as Shiro distracted them, and looped her bayard around the beck of the live one. Then she pulled- _hard._ the soldier's head snapped back and his blaster clattered to the floor as he scrambled to release the pressure on his throat. Pidge kept up the tension, pushing on the soldier's rear with a knee, until he collapsed to the floor, unconscious. 

In the midst of battling the droids bare-handed, Shiro suddenly crumpled to the ground with a _snap._ with one misstep, his sprained ankle had broken completely. One of the droids took the opening and leveled their blaster at the green paladin. Pidge went down with a scream as laser fire singed her thigh and shoulder. 

Shiro ducked the droids and rolled over to the discarded blaster, using it to dispatch the robotic men once and for all. 

Pidge lay on the floor, trying to catch her breath to keep from going into shock. They had barely escaped this battle with their lives, but reinforcements were probably on the way. They didn't have time to rest. 

"Where... where are the others?" She choked out, hoping Shiro had an update on an extraction. "Shiro? Shiro are you alright?"

The black paladin was on his hands and knees, breathing hard. She squinted, and saw that his eyes were blown wide and he was sweating profusely. 

Quiznak. 

He was having a flashback. 

"Shiro! Shiro we have to get out of here!" Pidge pleaded desperately, grasping the black paladin's shoulders.

"... Matt?" Shiro whispered, "oh God, Matt, I'm so sorry, I..." he sputtered. 

Oh no... oh no no no... Shiro thought she was... Pidge choked back a sob. They did _not_ have time for this right now. They had to get out of here, and neither of them could make it alone. There was only one way she could think of to get out of this situation alive, but Pidge hated herself for what she was about to do.

"Yeah, it's me Shiro." She sputtered out. "It's Matt. I'm here." She said, biting back the pain of her injuries and the guilt of her words simultaneously. "We've been captured by Galra, but there's an escape pod east of here. I'm hurt, and so are you. We'll have to work together to get to safety." 

Shiro shakily got to his feet, and quickly discovered his broken ankle. Pidge hobbled over to support him, gritting through her teeth so as not to scream. Her shoulder was throbbing with every heartbeat, the blood soaking through her undershirt and chaffing as her breastplate moved. Her thigh was equally painful. She could only bear to put weight on it for a second before it quivered and gave out on her. The pain churned her stomach and made her dizzy, but she couldn't afford to pass out now. 

The two of them made a galumping pace down the hallway- Pidge would support Shiro as he took a step with his good foot, then she would lean on him as she hopped forward favoring her injured leg. It made her head spin. Shiro was muttering encouragements to 'Matt' the entire time, which only broke Pidge's heart.

She couldn't afford to think about her family right now. 

She couldn't save them if she died here. 

A tinny voice crackled and popped in Shiro's helmet. Coran was trying to contact them. 

Pidge reached up and removed the helmet from the black paladin's sweating face, and placed it on her own head. It was too big and clunked around on her skull, but the important thing was that it _worked._

"Coran, this is Pidge. We need any help you can give us immediately. I'm hit and blind, and Shiro is down. He's... he's not all here right now. I don't think we can make it to the extraction point." 

There was the sound of muffled cursing from the other side. "All right paladins. You keep moving to the extraction point, and as soon as we can we'll send someone to get you." 

"Alright." Pidge huffed, taking another agonizing step forward. She could feel herself getting dizzy, the loss of blood finally affecting her brain. 

"I'm so sorry Matt. I didn't think they would find you, I tried..." Shiro was muttering things at her side, heartbreaking apologies to her brother, "...so you wouldn't be forced to fight, Matt. I'm so sorry." 

"It's ok." Pidge responded quietly, not knowing what else to say. She had seen Shiro have flashbacks before, usually in the midst of battle. He would go blank for a minute and either need assistance fighting their enemies, or he would spring to consciousness immediately with some new information that turned the tide of battle. Not this time. This time Shiro was locked in his own memory, firmly believing that Pidge was her older brother. She supposed the family resemblance, as well as her current lack of eyewear, didn't help draw any distinctions. Pidge wasn't exactly _good_ with comfort or emotions, not like Lance or Hunk, and she had no idea how to help Shiro back to his right mind. 

They trudged forward, one step, then a rest, then another step, bit by bit along the corridor heading east. Her leg was throbbing, and all Pidge wanted to do was sit down and pass out. But she couldn't. It wasn't an option. Shiro had come to save her, and now he was I. Trouble because of her. She had to get them both to safety, or she would never forgive herself. 

"Paladins!" Came the voice of Coran over the too-big headset bouncing on her skull. "We've got the Red Lion incoming to your location, be ready for her!" 

"Where are we meeting Keith?" Pidge answered breathlessly. Hopefully it was somewhere nearby, neither she not Shiro could make it much further, but she didn't see any outside exits within the next hundred feet.

"He's coming to you!" Coran answered. "We've got a lock on your position. Now cover your heads and stay still, the estimated time of arrival is 30 seconds!" 

Of course Keith would do something reckless. Pidge maneuvered Shiro against the nearest wall and pushed him to the floor. She painfully curled herself over his trembling form with her chest and tried to make them both as small as possible with the most protected sides of their bodies facing outward. She could feel her muscles straining under the effort- the torn ones and the whole ones protesting in equal measure. 

A rumble started faintly in the distance, growing closer and closer, until Pidge had to cover her ears. Then it happened-

The ornate ceiling of the alien prison crashed to the floor as the mechanical metal teeth of a giant red lioness burst through the building. Bits of stone and plaster littered the floor and filled the air, making Pidge and Shiro cough. 

The red lion opened her mouth and Keith came running out like a man on a mission. 

When he saw his fellow paladins- curled up in a corner covered in blood and dirt, unable to stand and wide-eyes in fear- his protective nature flooded his brain. He rushed over.

"Pidge! Shiro!" He cried as he knelt before them. "Coran said you were hurt, where?" 

Pidge looked up and squinted, rubbing debris from her face. She could make out the single-lidded purple eyes and scruffy black hair that made Keith unique. She felt his warm hands running over her arms and shoulders carefully, looking for injuries in the absence of her response.

"Help Shiro first, he's not all here right now." She sputtered out, coughing the dust from her lungs. 

"Yeah no, he's just got a twisted ankle, you're bleeding everywhere." Keith replied flatly, worry coloring his tone. "Shiro will be fine, you look like you're about to pass out."

It was true, Pidge felt like she was on the verge of unconsciousness already. 

"Are you okay to be picked up?" Keith asked, hands hovering over her back and knees, afraid to hurt her further. 

"Mm." She gulped, bracing herself. "Other side." 

Keith nodded and repositioned himself to her right, the side where only her shoulder was hit. He slid his hands behind her back and knees, and gripped firmly.

"One, two..." 

He lifted, and Pidge screamed. 

Fire raced through her side, her thigh, her shoulder, even her back and neck which until now she hadn't realized were sore. She could feel the deep laser-scorched gouges breaking open, her flesh tearing apart anew, her hot blood pooling in her clothes. 

"Pidge! PIDGE!" 

She heard the voice calling her name, faintly, as if through a thick wall. Suddenly she was moving, quickly, and it hurt. Oh God it hurt, she couldn't... she...

She let the pain drag her under. 

\------

"I think she's waking up!"   
Someone said. 

She was lying on something hard, and cold. Her shoulder ached- someone was pressing down on it, hard- and she couldn't feel her leg. 

She tried to lift herself up.

It was a bad idea. 

Her side flared in agony, and amidst someone pushing her back to the floor, she lost consciousness.

\-------

"It's been three days Coran, why won't you just put her in a healing pod?" 

That sounded like Lance. Was Lance here? Where _was_ here? 

"Pidge's injuries, while severe, are not immediately life-threatening." That had to be Allura, the voice was soft and lyrical. "To use a healing pod would be dangerous in such a situation. 'Overkill', I believe the humans call it?"

"That's bullcrap!" Lance shouted in response. "She's been unconscious for three days and that's not life-threatening? How much blood did she lose? She's only fourteen for God's sake!"

"Lance, my boy, calm down, I'm sure our youngest paladin will awake when she's ready." Coran soothed. 

Pidge couldn't keep herself from laughing, and she snorted. 

"Owww..." she mumbled quietly when her side protested the action. Instantly there were bodies at her side. She opened her eyes and made out red, yellow, and khaki green shirts standing at the foot of her bed.

"Pidge!" Hunk exclsimed, placing a warm brown hand on his teammate's. 

Pidge squeezed back gently. "Hey. Is everyone alright?"

"Yes." Allura answered. "Now that you're awake, everyone is fine."

"And Shiro?"

"I'm okay, Pidge." Came the deep and comforting voice of the black paladin from somewhere behind her head. Carefully, she sat up and twisted to look.

Shiro sat in a chair by her bedside, his ankle wrapped in plaster and resting on a stool. She couldn't see exactly, but it seemed like he was smiling at her. 

"You did great, Pidge." He said. "I wouldn't have made it out of there without you."

She reached up to adjust her glasses out of habit, and then realized they weren't there. "How much so you remember?" She asked solemnly. 

Shiro signed. "Enough. I'm sorry for what happened. I was supposed to help _you,_ not the other way around."

Pidge nodded, understanding what Shiro meant. The flashbacks were a sore spot for the black paladin, who saw himself as the protector of the team. 

"That's what teammates are for." Pidge shrugged in response, and instantly regretted it. "Owww...." she moaned as she gripped her bandaged shoulder. 

Keith laid a hand over hers, and gently pushed. "You should get some rest." He said softly. "We'll be back in a little while with some food."

"Yeah!" Hunk added. "I'm going to make your favourite tonight!"

"Space goo?" Lance rolled his eyes. 

Hunk smiled wide, "Yup!" 

The primary paladins collectively groaned as they exited the med bay, leaving the Alteans with the two most injured paladins. 

"We were quite worried about you, little one." Allura said softly as she sat on the edge of Pidge's bed. "When your communication link stopped working, and then Shiro found you injured..." she shuddered. "You were very brave, fighting off those soldiers and helping your fellow paladin while he couldn't think straight. I'm very proud of you." 

Pidge blushed and turned her head. She hasn't been brave. She had been scared, and hurt, and desperate. She did what she had to do to survive and get Shiro and herself to safety. 

Coran pressed something into her palm. 

She looked down to see what it was- it was cold, and wiry, and smooth. 

A pair of glasses.

"So you can see yourself clearly." Coran said, in that tone he only ever used when he was saying something clever that had a double meaning.

She lifted the spectacles to her face- slowly, minding her shoulder- and settled them on her nose.

Instantly the world came into focus, and she could see the relieved smiling faces of her space-family. 

"Maybe you're right." She muttered to herself. Maybe she had been brave...


End file.
